March 29, 2024

NHS boys win title, girls take second at South Tama meet

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TAMA — Newton High’s track athletes had a good night on and off the track at South Tama’s SCT Early Bird Invitational. The Cardinal track teams had a strong season-opening outing Tuesday night.

The Cardinal boys captured the SCT Early Bird Invitational title for their division, and the Cardinal girls claimed second place in their division.

Newton piled up 191 points to win the boys’ championship with East Marshall in second with 130 points. BCLUW had 127 points for third place followed by South Tama with 65, GMG with 36 and Columbus Catholic with 29 points.

Newton’s boys wrapped up a school record, a meet record and a track record in the newest boys’ event — the 800 sprint medley relay. The Cardinals had two individual event champions with meet records.

South Tama scored 12 more points than Newton’s girls, taking the division title with 143 points. The Cardinals had 131 points and

GMG was third with 94 points. East Marshall finished fourth with 90 points followed by BCLUW with 73 and Columbus Catholic had 42 points.

“The girls gave a great effort tonight. To get second place by a close margin and come away with as many top places as we did is a fun way to start the outdoor season,” Newton girls’ coach Rachelle Tipton said. “There were a lot of close races at the finish line tonight, some went our way and some didn’t but watching them fight all the way to the end shows where we can go from here.”

The Cardinal girls claimed gold in the 4x800-meter relay, 4x100 shuttle hurdle and 4x100 relay races. They had one individual champion on the track.

Liz McVey, Morgann Eide, Audrey Lucas and Abbie Barr combined to win the shuttle hurdle relay race in 1 minute, 12.45 seconds. The Newton foursome edged out BCLUW, which was a close second in 1:12.65.

Barr was the 200-meter winner in 28.93 seconds at South Tama. Hannah Boecker finished fourth in the race in 29.94 seconds. Barr finished second in the high jump earlier in the meet with a season’s best clearance of 4 feet, 10 inches.

In the 4x100 relay, McVey and Eide were joined by Morgan Allen and Karley Leiker to win in 55.69 seconds. Newton’s 4x800 relay team of Tessa Keeton, Lakin Jenkins, Rachel Berkland and Molly Coy won in 11:14.64.

Newton’s boys won nine events, going 1-2 in two of those events.

Newton’s quartet of Jaron Roush, Matthew Karsten, Connor Gholson and Brennen Dodd set the boys’ meet record and fastest time on the STC track in the 800 sprint medley. The four posted a winning time of 1:38.88, which is a Newton school record.

Gholson had tallied a meet record leap of 20 feet, 6 inches to win the long jump. Keith Steinbach was second at 18-5 1/4.

Dodd set a meet record in claiming gold in the 400 meters in 52.54 seconds. Jack Callaghan was right behind him in second at 53.41.

Dodd also won the 800 meters in 2:11.57. Karsten claimed the gold in the 100 meteers in 11.81 seconds and Logan Cummins was fifth in 12.57.

Gholson took first in the 200 meters in 23.51 and Karsten was fourth in 24.06.

Roush, Gholson and Karsten combined with Clayton Baltisberger to win the 4x100 relay in 46.17 seconds.

Roush, who was second by a narrow margin the 110-meter high hurdles (15.93), anchored the Cardinal 4x110 shuttle hurdle relay to first place. He combined with Dylan Farver, Steinbach and Cody Satterfield in 1:0833. Farver took fourth in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.14.

Jace Lukefuhr won the discus with a throw of 128-8 with Jaise Gulling in third at 112-4. Landon Hansen placed second in the shot put at 41-8 and Landon Criswell was third at 40-5. Steinbach was fourth in the high jump at 5-2.

Callaghan and Noah Sander turned in second and third-place finishes in the 1,600 and 3,200 races. In the 1,600, Callaghan ran 5:01.91 and Sander had a time of 5:10.03. In the 3,200, Callaghan took second in 11:01 and Sander was third in 11:04.

The foursome of Josh Miravales, Cummins, Spencer Elbert and Baltisberger took third in the 4x200 relay in 1:43.27. Miravales, Baltisberger, Jeremiah Johnson and Sander combined for third in the distance medley relay in 4:09.62.

The NHS boys’ 4x800 relay team of Adam Hunter, Steinbach, Dylan Main and Callaghan was fifth in 10:38.23. The 4x400 relay team of Satterfield, Skyler Tool, Farver and Johnson was sixth in 4:24.94.

For the Cardinal girls, the hurdles races produced strong performances. After winning the shuttle hurdle relay, they went 2-3 in the 100-meter high hurdles with Eide in second at 17.09 seconds and McVey in third in 18.48 seconds. Berkland claimed second in the 400 hurdles in 1:14.11.

Tipton said one of the close races involving Newton’s girls came in the 3,000 meters with Gerima Blair. Tipton said Blair battled for second place the whole race and got nudged out at the finish line. Blair took third in 13:24.76.

“Her competitiveness during the race was tremendous,” Tipton said. “Abbie Barr had a big night. She was in rhythm with the high jump. Her 200 victory was a fun surprise. It was exciting to watch her take the lead and hold it.”

In the 400 meters, Jenna Smith placed sixth for Newton in 1:13.85. She was sixth in the 1,500 at 6:22.12 with teammate Brittany McConnell running fourth in the event at 6:19.65. Coy was fourth in the 800 in 2:54.49.

Ali Bestell and Haley Revell scored points for the Cardinal girls in the throwing events. Bestell took second in the discus with a throw of 95-1 and Revell was third at 92-9. Revell placed third in the shot put with a distance of 33-3 and Bestell was fifth at 29-6. Kenna Winther was fifth in the long jump with a leap of 14-1.

Winther combined with Leiker, Allen and Teddie Brunsmann to post a third-place finish in the 4x200 relay in 2:03.82. The NHS girls’ 4x400 team of Barr, Jenkins, Keeton and Berkland was third in 4:35.78.

Newton’s distance medley relay team of Alivia White, Sydney Hood, Caelyn Briley and McConnell was fourth in 5:17.40. The 800 sprint medley relay team of Serenity Stier, Rheagan Oldfield, Andrea Brown and Olivia Barnes was sixth in 2:27.13.

In the weight-man’s and weight-woman’s relays, the Newton boys’ team of Criswell, Hansen, Lukefuhr and Mason Lee was second in 54.44 seconds while the girls’ team of Courtney Dawson, Bailey Wall, Mackenzie Baker and Lilly Busch was second in 1:01.38.

The Newton track teams compete at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Oskaloosa Invitational in Oskaloosa.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com